HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT

A REFLECTION FOR TRINITY SUNDAY

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” exclaims St. Paul in today’s Epistle.  It is said that we know less about the deepest part of the world’s oceans than we do about the farthest reaches of outer space, and it seems that the same is true about God.  We know his heights, that he is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-just, all-merciful, all-loving, everlasting without beginning or end.  But the depth of his knowledge, the depth of his love, and all these other infinite attributes of the Divine Being?  These are unknown to us and must remain so.

The reason we do not and never can know these depths is apparent.  Our limited ‘finite’ minds can never comprehend the unlimited and ‘infinite’.  It’s quite simply impossible.  Even the greatest scholars and saints, like St. Paul, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine and others, had to content themselves with the knowledge that they would never begin to approach the depths of God’s being.  “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” asks St. Paul rhetorically.

We must not feel cheated by our lack of knowledge.  We must never think we are being deprived of something we’re entitled to.  On the contrary, we must know our place.  For our own humility, our knowledge of God has its limits.  If it did not, we would beGod!   Our Creator wants us to be content with the place to which he has assigned us, and, as the Psalmist says, “O Lord,mine heart is not exalted; I have no proud looks.  I do not exercise myself in great matters which are too high for me. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low” (Ps. 130:1-3).

We should note that it is only the matters that are “too high for me” that’s we’re forbidden to explore, not the depths of God insofar as we are able. Otherwise, we would never have had theologians or doctors of the Church, who have tried their best to understand and teach the ways of God.  But we must know our place.  We must remember, for instance, that it was forbidden for lay people before Vatican II to publish theological works that had not been thoroughly vetted by the diocesan censor and given an approval by the bishop.  Those words Nihil Obstatand Imprimaturmeant something in those days!

Today, alas, between Rome’s “Anything Goes” attitude and the development of the Internet, there is no end to the rubbish spouted by people (including the more pretentious clergy) about things theological.  While we might legitimately explore the bounds of what we know, we may never claim to expand those limits without Church approval.  Some things are “past finding out” and we must know our place!